Dec 28 2018 by Alasdair Lindsay

Bertone name to return with brand new 217-mph EVsupercar

There hasn't been a Bertone car since 2013's Aston Martin RapideBertone Jet 2+2 – but new EV marque Dianchè is bringing Bertone backfor a new supercar

Bertone is back in the car business after a five-year absence with a brand new 217-mph

supercar planned for production by newly founded EV marque Dianchè.

Dubbed the Dianchè BSS GT Cube, the new Bertone-badged supercar has a claimed

power output of 600kW (804 bhp) through a 300kW motor attached to each axle,

supposedly good enough 217 mph and a 0-60 mph time of 2.2 seconds.

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There's one catch to Bertone's return, however – it's in name only. Following the original

Gruppo Bertone's bankruptcy in 2014 (and one year after unveiling its final concept car),

the Bertone brand was sold to AKKA Technologies, which is now licensing the Bertone

brand to Dianchè's parent company, Flymove.

Claiming to be influenced by Bertone design language, Dianchè recently unveiled a pair of

wildly different concept cars alongside their plans for the GT Cube: the Bertone BSS GT

One sports car and an aptly named City Car BSS Cube.

There's also another variant of the City Car planned, the entry-level City Car One, which

looks a bit like if a Renault Twizy had been in the 1987 cult film RoboCop.

BSS refers to what Dianchè hopes will be its unique selling point – a Battery Swap

Exclusive video: Inside the forgotten Bertone archives

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System, replacing as you go charging for hot-swappable batteries. Rather than plug in

and wait, Dianchè has lofty plans to create a network of service stations, which will allow

each car's power source to be swapped out for a fully charged equivalent in three

minutes. Standard plug-in charging will also be offered.

It's likely, though, that the range-topping sports car will be of more interest to old school

Bertone fans, even if traditional combustion engines have been canned for the brand's

new iteration.

Given Bertone was responsible for styling the gorgeous Lamborghini Miura, any wannabe

high performance vehicle carrying the Italian coachbuilder's name has a high benchmark

to hit. There's perhaps a dash of the 2012 Nuccio concept in the headlights and

passenger windows of the Dianchè's GT Cube design, though that's as far as we see the

similarities go.

The boxy nature of the city cars seems a bit further off what we might expect from a true

Bertone design. The only car from its history that comes close to its boxiness is the

Bertone Freeclimber (a Daihatsu Rugger/Fourtrak 4x4 in Italian drag).

The city cars, though, unashamedly scream Bertone, with prominent branding on the back

and rear quarter panels, plus further but more subtle branding on the doors.

A 35kW electric motor has been chosen to power the City Car BSS Cube, with a claimed

range of 200km. Combined with a top speed of 93 mph, it's clearly aimed at the urban

market.

As for the GT Cube, it's claimed by Flymove that a racing program is part of its roadmap.

Concept renderings show it racing around Monaco's famous street circuit, along with a

broad statement that the GT Cube 'will participate in some important competitions in

2019/2020.'

Dianchè's very first Bertone prototype model, the BSS GT One, will slot in underneath the

GT Cube in its offering, with two 150kWh motors and a top speed of 186 mph. Initial

testing for the BSS GT One is scheduled to take place at the Adria racetrack in March

next year, with pre-orders opened a month later and deliveries beginning in 2020.

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